Debate Do-Over: Biden Backs His Sidekick

Did Sundance ever bail out on Butch Cassidy? Not on your tintype, the President’s loyal sidekick is ready to draw down on Romney and Paul Ryan to undo some of this week’s debate damage.

On the campaign trail, the VP aims the kind of zingers Obama eschewed in confronting the ever-changeable Romney: “Last night we found out he doesn’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I guess he outsourced that to China or something.”

“You know the phrase they always use? Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by $1 trillion. Guess what? Yes we do…We want to let that trillion-dollar tax cut expire, so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super-wealthy. That’s not a tax raise, that’s called fairness where I come from.”

Nate Silver’s reading of polls from the last debate give Romney a boost from 15% to 20% chance of winning the necessary electoral college votes. If the next presidential debates have the same result, that would increase Romney’s chances to 30%, maybe better. That changes the outlook considerably.

Which goes to show just how important these debates are in changing the minds of at least some portion of the electorate. If Mr. Ryan steamrollers Mr. Biden with numbers, this debate could make even more change in the numbers. I doubt anyone will steamroller Ms. Crowley, but she’s dealing with considerable egos, here, and it will be interesting to watch. She’s seen how a moderator can be mauled in the arena and has a career to be concerned about just like everyone else involved.